Why is it so important?

How can you gain the Knowledge about these?

Details, details, details.

Let’s see if I can explain my Thinking Process here!

I’m sure you’ve heard that Football is defined by small details.

Those details are Decision Making.

And who makes those decisions?

Mainly, the Players.

A Disclaimer is needed here – YES, COACHES ARE IMPORTANT! 

Strategy, Tactics, Training Session Planning, Feedback Planning, Exercises Planning, all is relevant and Promotes (or not) the individual capabilities of each Player.

However, my opinion is that the real stars are the Players.

Always.

Exactly because they’re the ones having to make more decisions during the Matches.

Therefore, the Coaches main responsibility is to create as real as possible scenarios that allow Decision Making Processes to be improved and recognized by the individuals, and team.

Simple, but yet super important.

Having a player to understand a specific situation and the best choice to surpass it is very good but useless if not recognizable by the team.

Let’s think about examples:

1. Team X is at an Offensive Transition, at a Counter-Attacking Moment and with numerical superiority of 4v2. However, the Player with the Ball didn’t engage with any defender, makes the Pass to the back-foot and there’s no movements created for the remaining 3.
   Does this situation seems as dangerous as its potential asks it to be ?
   NO!
   Why?
   Because the 4 Players “read” it differently.
2. The Team Y is at a Defensive Moment, starting the Pressing on the Offensive-third in a GK+4+4+2 formation. Let’s focused on the 6 Players that are directly involved here – the Midfielders and the Attackers. The team has a defined “Area for Pressing” on the sides (as once the ball reaches where normally would be a right or left-back). In this hypothetical scenario, the striker makes the movement that “invites” the Ball to go to the side and holds that position to force the Ball to go forwards, the winger follows and presses the side-back strongly, however the CM’s and other Striker didn’t follow the same pattern of Pressure and leave space for the Ball to be passed inside with ease and now the opposition has the team completely exposed and no-pressure applied — what I call an “Open Ball”.

Both scenarios are very likely to happen when the triggers aren’t a common language within the team, when training is yet not as embodied as it could be.

Here again, we are talking about individual assessment of situations, and how to develop those characteristics in order to achieve a Recognizable Order (or Patterns) within the original source of Chaos that determines the Game?

Finally, the questions now become:
. What are the important characteristics of a Football Player?
. Are they the same for all Positions?
. Do we have a number of Core-Characteristics and another of Specific-Characteristics?

. If so, how to develop those Characteristics?
. How should Individual Training be implemented within the Sessions?
. For how long? When to implement within the Sessions (or week)? Starting at what Age?

Now, before it gets to concerning, not many Clubs have the time, resources, or even concerns about this.

How many do you know that have these concerns?

However, it must start somewhere.

Individual Training Institutions are booming because Clubs aren’t able to offer this Service.

Why?

Only they would know!